Two Saudi ministries are negotiating the formation of women-only information technology firm to open up new sectors for female job seekers, Al Sharq Al Awsat local newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The firm will mainly target females specialized in the IT sector and the project that is adopted by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and the Labor Ministry is part of a plan to localize the communication sector.

The firm is the second phase of the plan, as the labor ministry has concluded the first phase of localizing mobile phone selling and repairing jobs.

The General Authority for Statistics highlighted that the unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2016 reached 5.7 percent.

Shoura (Consultative)council member, Dr Saeed Al Shaikh said that the firm will open up new job opportunities for women and reduce the unemployment rate among female locals.

Besides the firm the government has launched distance job scheme to allow women to take up more employment opportunities, in the conservative state that bans them from driving or work with men in the same offices.

source: Xinhua